FIJI NEWS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 307, 28 December 1877, Page 4

FIJI NEWS.

' [Auckland Herald.]] From papers to hand we take the following items :—

Efforts are being made to establish a State school at Levaka. At a meeting held for that purpose, Mr J. M. Butt, of the Bank of New Zealand, presided, Mr W. F. Parr, who has returned from a visit to the Navua district was agreeably surprised *to find the soil there well adapted for eagar. The more: people travel about Fiji, the more clearly will appear the value of our island home. What is wanted ia labor and capital. Shipwrightsand carpenters are in great demand io Fiji, and numbers of vessels are being constructed and repaired. Thera are now applications from the Qolonista for no leas than 3000 laborers. If all the labor vessels return full, the whole of (he immigrants can be immediately and profitably placed out. A large forest of sandalwood has been discovered in the centre of Viti Levu. This is due (o the active explorations carrfed on by A. Gordon Esq., C.M.G. The forest, in order to preserve it from the fate of similar of isa predecessors, has been "tabu'd." Some fcwenty logs of the wood were reoeived ia town the other day, and are very fine specimens of this native commodity. As an article of trade in the Fiji and other groups, aandalwood stands unrivalled.

The lofty spire attached to the Catholic chapel in which the bells are hung has been taken down. It has been so severely shaken in different hurricanes that it was not thought safe to let it stand the brunt of another one; for, if blown down, considerable damage would doubtless be dona to the houses surrounding, besides most likely injuring the costly peal of bells hung in the tower.

During the past twelve months over 150 Fijians have been drowned between the Yasawas, Vanua Levu, and Viti Levu. This is a mortality not generally known. They go about io their frail coffin-like canoes, get upset, and are either eaten by sharks, or drift away -past the islands to sea, and are never more h9ard of again. His Excellency the Governor, with a view to the employment of the provident habit of life assurance in the colony committed to bis charge, has resolved to relieve life assurance companies aud their agents from being subject to any taxation in the form of trade licenses.

The Agents of the Wesleyan mission at Levuka have been enquiring the estimated value of land there, and it is quite possible that within four months some of it may ba for sale. Ia the event of the Government deciding on erecting a good wharf, there is a whisper to the effect that a Fiji Steam Navigation Company will be formed to secure the intsr-insular trade.

The accounts of the distress in India have caused subscriptions to be made in Levuka for the relief of that distress. A number of citizens began to collect funds for this purpose, actively assisted by the Kev. Mr Langbam, and in a few hours over £100 was collected, a draft lor which amount was forwarded by the Laichardt to the Mayor of Sydney, on this account, and since the above amount was forwarded, some £25 more jhae been collected.

3?rom Eewa, news comes that labour in that rising and enterprising portion of the colony is now more abundant than it has been of late; that the sugar-mills are in good working order, and doing full and good work. There is cane there yet to be cut which will yield fifty tons to the acre.

Tobacco is now being grown in Piji with great success. At Nai Sulu, Viti Levu, crops have been reaped this season, which yielded the grower £40 per acre, from the cured leaf in ita unmanufactured condition. On the Maro plantation on the same island, as much as 16Q01bs. of cured leaf per acre have been reaped, which, at Is per lb., would be worth £80 per aore.

Tbe weather in the Islands has been long dry, and extensive fires have taken place. Many square miles of country have been made a black and smoking waste. Houses and cultivations have been destroyed, and many thousands of cocoanut trees, in all stages of growth, have been burnt. The fires are attributed to the careless manner in which the fi&tives bum off pieces of ground for their weres or gardens. When the fire begins to spread, they do not try to extinguish it, but look upon the extending flames with delight.